In this message I will present my personal impressions received in viewing the controversial move, “The Da Vinci Code.” It is based on a book of the same name, and it is reported that 60 million books have been sold. The movie opened in 3,735 movie theaters nationwide on May 19, 2006. Since the brotherhood of Churches of Christ is quite disturbed over this movie, as well as other conservative religious groups, I viewed the movie that I might see and hear firsthand the religious ideas set forth. I will tell you some of the things I heard later in this study. It impressed me with being an antichrist movie, with an antichrist plot and story, designed to question the credibility of the Christian religion. Obviously, it is just another novel, one of those fictional stories without any Biblical or historical credibility. However, people outside the Christian religion have enough trouble believing in the Christian religion without another fictitious story that contradicts the truthfulness of the Christian religion. I fear the movie might move the nonchristian world further into darkness and unbelief.

The plot of the movie is a search for the Holy Grail, the cup Jesus used at the Last Supper, and represents His blood shed for the sins of all mankind. This cup is remembered as a part of every Lord's Day worship by millions of Christians. The movie opens with the murder of the Curator of te Louvre Museum in Paris. Supposedly, he had the secret about the location of the Holy Grail, and left a design near his body that would lead to its location. He left a coded message in the shape of a six pointed star, better known as the star of David. Supposedly, his coded message revealed some secret Leonardo Da Vinci put into his famous painting of the Last Supper with Christ and His apostles. The Curator's granddaughter, who is an expert in deciphering coded messages, makes a late night call to a Harvard professor visiting in Paris. He is an expert in interpreting religious symbols and is able to decode the star, and thus begins the search for the Holy Grail. That is the plot of the movie. Their search leads them to the discovery of a supposed secret about the Christian religion and a romantic relationship between Mary Magdalene and Jesus Christ.

My first comment on this movie is that the book and the movie make the fatal mistake many people make by refusing to recognize the silence of the Bible–claiming to know something not revealed in the Bible.. One of the great rules of Bible study is, “The secret things belong unto the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever”(Deuteronomy 29:29). We learn from this scripture that God does not tell us all things that we would like to

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know. He hides some things from us. Some of our questions He does not answer. The silence of the Bible, that which it omits, is indeed impressive. Morever, God requires that we respect the silence of the revealed word of God. Many have erred from the faith by going outside the Bible and thereby invent contrary theories, ideas, teachings and stories. They attempt to justify themselves by the silence of the scriptures. They use some such argument as, “The Bible does not directly say we cannot do this or that or we cannot believe this or that.” The silence of the Bible is a dangerous foundation for our religious beliefs. This movie contradicts and violates this great Bible truth: “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things that are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever.”

Permit me to mention one example of those things we all would like to know more about, but God has refused to reveal them to us. We are struck with the silence of the gospels about the childhood and early manhood of Jesus, except for the account of His visit to Jerusalem when He was twelve years of age. The biographical records of the gospel cover only about one-tenth of His life. A running record of every year of His life would have been extremely interesting. How was He as a teenager? What were the habits of life? How good was He as a carpenter? God has hidden the early part of His life from us. However, I have seen a movie on His early life that shows Him traveling all around the earth as a teenager. Many heathen religions have a tradition of a child prophet who visited their country, and some claim Jesus as that child prophet. . They claim this accounts for the wisdom and power He had. The silence of the gospels disprove “The Da Vinci Code” fairytale. The movie does the very same thing about the life of Mary Magdalene. There is not a whit of historical truth about what this move says about Mary Magdalene and her relationship to Jesus. It shows utter disrespect for the silence of the Bible. After the crucifixion, Mary was the first person to see Jesus alive after His resurrection. Also, Luke 8:2,3 states that among the disciples of Jesus were, “certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities–Mary Magdalene, out of whom had come seven demons...and many others who provided for Him out of their substance.” She was called “the Magdalene” because Magdala was her hometown. We can summarize all the inspired writers said about her in a few brief statements. She was called Mary Magdalene and was a disciple of Jesus, out of whom Jesus cast out seven demons. She was noted for her presence around the time of His crucifixion and resurrection. The gospel authors

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mention her only 13 times in the gospels and only once other than the part she had in being the first person to see Jesus alive after His resurrection. After her appearance at the resurrection, she disappears from history, and is never mentioned again in the Divine record. Apparently, there was nothing of importance in her life that needed mention again after the establishment of the church. There is no evidence that she was ever a married woman.

Now that I have told you all the scriptures says about Mary Magdalene, I will tell about a few statements I heard in this movie about Jesus and Mary in total disregard for the silence of the Bible. These were fabrications to create an interesting novel, Hollywood style. I heard one character say that Jesus was just a man and was not the Divine Son of God. He contradicted the teachings of the four gospel writers and the entire New Testament. This man was supposedly an expert on the history of the Holy Grail, a name given to the cup Christ used at the Last Supper. The chief purpose of the movie is to deny that Jesus was both God and man. Many legends have sprung up about the Holy Grail. It is said to have disappeared, and many legendary searches have been made for it. This movie tells of another legendary and imaginary search for the Holy Grail, and the so-called expert on the Grail said that Mary Magdalene herself was the Grail. The movie says that the cup used at the Last Supper was only a symbol of Mary Magdalene, and in particular it is asserted that the Holy Grail symbolized the womb of Mary Magdalene. I heard those very words. Even more insulting to Jesus was the claim that Mary Magdalene was the wife of Jesus, and she was pregnant with His child while He was on the cross. Furthermore, it was said that Christ's blood was in her womb when her child was born. Furthermore, he said that Mary Magdalene was the favorite disciple of Jesus and by a special appearance appointed her to be an apostle and teacher of all the apostles. The apostles were not to lead the church; Mary Magdalene was to be their teacher and the leader of the church. He goes on to say this made the apostles jealous, and he represents Peter as saying to the other apostles, “Did Christ prefer her over us?”. The man then said this is the great secret about Mary Magdalene and Jesus that the church covered up, and kept secret; he then called this a conspiracy. The book on which the movie is based makes Mary Magdalene say to the apostles that she will teach them all they need to know.

It is implied in the movie that Mary Magdalene took the cup used at the Last supper with her to France. She is represented as leaving Palestine after the resurrection pregnant by Jesus and escaped to France where she had their child; and it is asserted the descendants of this child is the true

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Hence, this movie is about a man and woman who search for the Holy Grail and discover the secret that Mary Magdalene is symbolized by the Holy Grail and that she was the wife of Jesus and one of His chosen apostles. This is the so-called secret of, “The Da Vinci Code.” It is also claimed that Leonardo Da Vinci put this secret in his famous painting of “The Last Supper.” It is claimed that Da Vinci included Mary Magdalene in that famous painting with all the apostles. The famous painting in reality shows only the twelve apostles with Jesus at the Last Supper. There is no historical evidence that Da Vinci had any;thing to do with the so-called secret in this movie. . There is not one iota of evidence in any of these things said about Mary and Jesus. These are terrible things to say about Jesus who was an incarnate Deity and is the Savior of the world. These are blasphemous statements. There is an excellent article on this movie in the May 29, 2006 issue of the Newsweek magazine. This fictitious claim that Jesus was just a man and not a Divine Being arose in the first century before any of the false gnostic gospels were written that questioned the Deity of Jesus. The apostle John was allowed to remain alive long enough to counteract this heresy and save the church from this falsehood. Both John and Paul delivered the church from this Satanic idea that blasphemes the character of Jesus. The gospel of John, I, II, and III John, Ephesians and Colossians all establish beyond dispute the truth that Jesus was both God and man. Also, the silence of the Bible proves that Mary Magdalene was neither the wife or an apostle of Christ. Jesus. The church met and defeated this falsehood before the Apostles died. They buried this falsehood when God, Christ and the Holy Spirit gave a special command and requirement to all who would become Christians. It is called, “the good confession.” Before one can be baptized and receive God's forgiveness, the person must must make this public confession, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” This confession is that Jesus is both God and man. No one can become a Christian who will not sincerely make that confession before men. Along with the requirements of faith, repentance and immersion in water, Romans 10:9,10 says, “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” You will note this confession is a saving act and has as much to do with salvation as faith, repentance and

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baptism. Christ allows no one in His church who does not believe in His Divinity. I will not baptize a person until I hear that confession. That confession prevents anyone from being a member of the New Testament church who does not believe that Jesus existed in the form of God before He came to earth and assumed the form of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Christ was an incarnate Deity. If you do not believe that, you can have part in the Christian religion. This idea in “ The Da Vinci Code” that Jesus was just a man and not God in the flesh, was destroyed by the apostles in the first century A.D. If you see this move, please remember that it is just a novel, just a fictional story.

I would say one more thing about this book, the movie, the author and those who would propagate the ideas set forth in this book. Jesus gave a special warning about insulting and , associating Jesus with evil and saying shameful, sinful things about Him. In Mark 3:28,29 Jesus said, “Assuredly I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men and whatever blasphemies they may utter, but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness but is subject to eternal condemnation.” What Jesus meant was that as long as He remained on earth, before He had risen from the dead, and before the Holy Spirit was sent to confirm all His claims to mankind, by miracles and the written word, men could say any evil thing about Him they desired and they could be forgiven for it. But after He arose, returned to heaven, and the Holy Spirit would be sent to establish the Christian religion by miracles and the written word, if anyone then makes blasphemous statements about Jesus and contradicts what the Holy Spirit has revealed about Jesus and His holiness, Divinity and authority, that person will not be forgiven in this world or in the world to come. If I understand what the word blasphemy means, I heard it several times in that movie.